* National grassroots campaign helped educate Senate Subcommittee about importance of the US aid program to Armenia.

WASHINGTON–The US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Thursday approved a fiscal year 2002 foreign aid bill which includes a $90 million earmark for Armenia–language directing that aid to Nagorno Karabakh be disbursed in a timely manner–and which preserves the Section 907 restrictions on US aid to the government of Azerbaijan–reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

During a Subcommittee "mark-up" Thursday afternoon–the panel–chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) finalized its version of the $15.4 billion foreign aid bill. The House version of this bill–which was adopted on July 24–included an $82.5 million allocation for Armenia–a $7.5 million reduction from the fiscal year 2001 level.

Among the Subcommitte members who support the Senate’s $90 million earmark were Ranking Member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)–Jack Reed (D-RI)–Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)–and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).

"We were especially pleased that our many long-time friends on this panel–in particular senator McConnel–Mikulski and Durbin–were joined today by Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island–who recently joined the sub-committee and has added tremendously to its deliberations over the US aid program to Armenia," added Hamparian.

The Subcommittee adopted the following language on aid to Armenia:

"The Committee has provided $90,000,000 for Armenia and urges the Armenian Government to continue to accelerate economic reforms. The Committee expects that not less than $5,000,000 of these funds will be provided to the Government of Armenia for an education initiative–including the provision of computers and Internet access to primary and secondary schools. The Committee is aware of the work of the Armenian Technology Group in assisting the Armenian private sector in a seed multiplication program. The Committee continues to support the expansion of these efforts in additional countries in the Central Asia region."

The following language was adopted regarding US aid to Azerbaijan:

"The Committee has included a provision which continues current law relating to section 907 of the Freedom Support Act–by restating an exemption that allows for humanitarian and certain other types of assistance to the region–including for refugees and displaced persons."

With regard to Nagorno Karabakh–the Subcommittee adopted the following language:

"The Committee continues to be concerned about the plight of victims of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict–and expects that the remainder of the $20,000,000 in humanitarian assistance–initially provided for in the fiscal year 1998 Act–will be promptly disbursed."

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